Authority will sock Chester property owners with new fees

The Chester Crozer building rises eight stories tall along Avenue of the States in Chester, next to the historic Colonial Courthouse. The newly founded Chester Stormwater Authority’s offices are on the fourth floor.
RICK KAUFFMAN — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA

CHESTER >> Property owners in the city have begun receiving letters from the Chester Stormwater Authority, notifying them of additional charges they will incur each month.

Based on the amount of developed ground on the property, defined as “impervious surface” or a surface that does not allow water or other liquids to pass through, most homeowners will receive a $15.60 bill at the beginning of December.

However, business owners will face additional fees based on their square footage. One owner, who asked not be named, said he’ll be paying at least an additional $1,643 a year, based on a 10,000 square-foot property.

“I’m going to be paying more than my city, school and county taxes together,” the business owner said.

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Chester Stormwater Authority Solicitor Joseph Oxman, a partner with the Philadelphia-based law firm Oxman Goodstadt Kuritz P.C., said “our fees will be far smaller than taxes.”

“Frankly, many commercial and business entities have had a free ride,” Oxman said. “They have used many of Chester’s public entities – water, gas, electric, roads, stormwater – without having to pay in.”

“Now they’re going to.”

The Chester Stormwater Authority was launched back in June as a private/public entity that partnered with the Chester Water Authority, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Corvias, which helped launch a similar program in Prince George’s County, Md., three years prior.

Those entities helped the stormwater authority seal a $1 million grant from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PennVest), which covered administration fees to launch the authority. Corvias did much of the groundwork to identify the impervious land and find an estimate of land-use per residence.

The Chester Stormwater Authority board consists of Chair Livia Smith, the director of Public Health Services for the city of Chester; Vice Chair Portia West, who serves on Chester City Council; Secretary Joan Neal, the former chief of staff for Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland as a state representative; Treasurer William Riley, a retired police officer, and board member John Shelton, a leader in the city’s NAACP, and Oxman, the solicitor.

The executive manager is the Rev. Horace Strand, a longtime environmental activist in the city.

Based on a system of Equivalent Residential Units (ERUs), the city imposes a fee based on the amount of impervious surface on an average single-family residential property in the city.

An ERU is equal to 1,139 square feet, and the monthly fee for one ERU is $15.60.

“We are mandated to charge a usage fee per unit of impervious land,” Oxman said. “That gives us the ability to fund projects and then we are able to go to bonding companies to bond out for much bigger projects.”

For businesses and churches, the sprawl of parking lots and surfaces that do not allow water or other liquids to pass through, the ERU fees could be astronomical.

A 10,000 square-foot property would be charged $136.96 a month, or $1,643.52 a year.

“As a municipal authority with the responsibility of serving the needs for the entire City of Chester, we are authorized to access a fee to access [sic] a fee to all owners of properties in the City of Chester,” the letter sent to residents reads. “These fees are based upon the amount of impervious surface on your property.”

The business owner, who asked not be named, said their property has already been devalued and this would only make it worse.

“I can only imagine what these storm water funds will be paid for,” the owner said.

Oxman said that fees would be used for a variety of benefits to the city, including establishing the “Chester Career Empowerment Zone,” which would buy property and turn it into the home for an introductory nursing program, a large trash reclamation project, parks and recreation projects and investing into rehabilitation the police force.

Nafis Nichols, the chief financial officer of Chester, who is in charge of navigating the city out of Act 47 financial distress status, said it was too premature to make comment. Details on the new entity in Chester have been scant, only sitting down for a meeting last Friday, and submitted questions that have not yet earned a response.

However, the entity continues to grow. Oxman said PennVest is offering another $4 million grant to the Chester Stormwater Authority.

As far as Chester nonprofits like “mom and pop churches” with little revenue, Oxman said those institutions will be able to have a hearing process to dispute the fees.

“I’m not sure if there will be a fee structure regarding non-profits,” Oxman said. “But, churches with little income will have a hearing process.”

He said that entities like Widener University or the Crozer-Chester Medical Center, which have a dedicated income source, “would have to pay a fair fee structure.”

Oxman said the Chester Stormwater Authority will enable projects that will better the lives of residents.

“That’s the beauty of authorities ... they have the broad ability to fund projects as long as they’re in the public interest,” Oxman said. “We’ll put Chester back to work by empowering people with careers.”